8 JRPGs that need to make a comeback next gen

With Kingdom Hearts 3 announced just a few weeks back at Sony’s E3 keynote, the announcement gave new hope to Kingdom Hearts fans who have been waiting for over 8 years for a proper console title. There are many other JRPGs which skipped the current generation of consoles, we’ll be discussing 8 of these gems which desperately need to make a comeback next gen.

Suikoden series

Brainchild of Yoshitaka Murayama at Konami who has now left the company which might explain the decline in games made in the series, Suikoden is a long running RPG franchise with most of it’s installations on Sony’s Playstation consoles. The most recent main title in the Suikoden series came out back in 2006 as Suikoden V for the PS2. If you’re a Suikoden fan you should definitely check out the Suikoden Revival Movement and see if you can help them out in their cause.

Chrono series

One of my favorite series of all is the Chrono series. There have been just two Chrono games in the series, Chrono Trigger and it’s sequel Chrono Cross. Chrono Trigger is considered by many to be the greatest JRPG of all time, with it’s sequel Chrono Cross considered to be almost as good. The main highlight in Cross was in my opinion the soundtrack by Yasunori Mitsuda, the tunes on that thing were out of this world, I still listen to the tracks today!

Earthbound

Known as Mother 2 in Japan, Earthbound is the second and only part of the Mother series to be released overseas. Earthbound is a traditional 2D RPG taking place during the 1990s featuring main character Ness, a child with psychic powers on a mission to defeat an Alien threatening Earth. The latest release in the Mother series is Mother 3 for the Game Boy Advance released in 2006 in Japan. Fans have started numerous petitions and sent requests to Nintendo for a sequel so maybe they can get Mother 4 done on the now struggling Wii U?

Shin Megamei Tensei & Persona

I’m considering both of these series as one since Persona is a sub-series of Shin Megamei Tensie and also due to the fact that both of these titles have failed to make their mark on either the Wii, PS3 or Xbox 360. Recently Persona 4, the latest title in the Persona series got a remake on the PS Vita while Shin Megamei Tensei IV will soon be released for the Nintendo 3DS. It’ll be nice to see both these franchises come back to the main stage and get console releases.

Shadow Hearts series

Shadow Hearts is a unique one of a kind horror JRPG series that spawned three games on the PS2. The games took place in real life locations like Europe instead of fictional kingdoms seen in Final Fantasies.

Rogue Galaxy

Rogue Galaxy was an excellent Science Fiction RPG developed by Level 5 who recently worked on Ni No Kuni. The game was massively successful in Japan and later even spawned a Director’s Cut that included new content, better visuals and more. One of the best parts of Rogue Galaxy was that there were little to no load times in the game, all the backgrounds and battles rendered seamlessly as to not lose your attention. Level 5 coming back for a sequel or even a spin off in the Rogue Galaxy Universe for the PS4 would be great.

Dark Cloud

Another RPG series by Level 5, Dark Cloud spawned two games which were centered around building geographical landscapes in the different areas you travel to in the games. There was also a very complex weapon and armor customization system involved which would help you create equipment according to your playstyle.

Wild Arms

Wild Arms is a long running Playstation RPG series that has spawned seven main games and various other media including a 22 episode Anime. The Wild Arms series is known for taking most of it’s ques from the wild west with each title being completely independent like Final Fantasy but taking place in the same world. The last Wild Arms title released was Wild Arms XF on the PSP, Wild Arms 6 has been rumored for a few years now so there’s a chance Sony might have shifted development to next gen (we can hope, right?).

What JRPG franchise would you like to make a comeback? Let us know in the comments below.